The official story was that only one man had ever died at the hands of Trophonius, and that he — known to be the lowlife bodyguard of a man called Demetrius — had deliberately gone into the cavern to steal gold and silver.

What if visionary, charismatic Alexander the Great was succeeded by a practical, realistic younger brother, called Demetrius, who handed India over to Chandragupta, circumnavigated Arabia, established a frontier on the Caucasus, and an imperial capital at Alexandria the Metropolis?